May 6, 2019. Shanghai – Following on from the inaugural class in 2018, the CEIBS-EHL Hospitality EMBA (HEMBA) programme today welcomed the 49 students of Class 1 of our 2019 spring cohort. Together with Swiss partner École hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL), CEIBS held a series of orientation events at our Shanghai campus, including a grand opening ceremony and a welcome banquet.

The addition of the new class has not only enlarged the HEMBA student body, but also encouraged participants from the first HEMBA class to make a special visit to the school, as over 20 students from the inaugural class of 2018 came to Shanghai to participate in the activities. During the event, many of them shared their learning experiences from the past year and recalled some of the highlights from their time at CEIBS. In speaking to the new cohort, H&C Property Management Co., Ltd. Chairman and HEMBA 2018 class captain Wang Hongjie encouraged HEMBA 2019 students to broaden their horizon at CEIBS so as to grow into leaders in various hospitality industries.

HEMBA 2019 Class 1 students comes from a wide range of locations, from Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang to Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Shandong, Sichuan, Fujian, Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and even Australia. Women make up 39.2% of the new cohort, with 80% of students holding executive positions at their current company. The average age of students in the group is 41.8.

The students also come from a wide range of industries, including real estate, media, culture and sports, finance, hotel management, IT, consulting, catering, logistics, e-commerce, daily chemicals, manufacturing, and agriculture. With the transformation of the Chinese economy gathering momentum, service upgrade is capturing much attention. As such, the service sector is now acting as a benchmark for other industries in terms of management philosophy and talent development.

At the opening ceremony, CEIBS Associate Dean (Europe), HEMBA Director, and Professor of Management Katherine Xin stated that, “CEIBS is one of the world’s leading business schools, and EHL is widely recognised as the world’s best hospitality management school. The HEMBA programme serves as a role model of cooperation between these two renowned schools, embodying CEIBS’ positioning statement of ‘China Depth, Global Breadth’.”

CEIBS Vice President and Dean Professor Ding Yuan and EHL Executive Dean Prof. Inès Blal also delivered welcome addresses at the event. In his speech, Prof. Ding noted that the tourism, hotel management, healthcare, and finance industries have huge potential as the service sector is poised to become the backbone of China’s economy. In addition, he noted that, as a collaboration between a top business school and top hospitality management school, the HEMBA programme serves as a precious reservoir of knowledge and sharing, as well as for cultivating top management talent for the Chinese market and boosting the development of the service sector.

Prof. Inès Blal said in her address that, in spite of the long distance between the two schools and the different language and values between China and Switzerland, EHL and CEIBS share the same goals and ideals in terms of education and social contribution.

In his address, Dr. Felix Moesner, CEO of Swissnex China and Science Consul, noted that with vision and innovation, CEIBS and EHL have combined business education with hospitality management by launching the HEMBA programme, offering students an opportunity to earn dual degrees and gain entry to both schools’ alumni networks.

Speaking on behalf of HEMBA 2019 Class 1, Ms. Cui Ping, President in Greater China of Little Diversified Architectural Consulting (Beijing) Co., Ltd., explained why she chose CEIBS. First, she said, it is the best business school in Asia. Second, she stated that she was deeply impressed by the pride and gratitude with which Wang Hongjie recommended CEIBS to her. Ms. Cui also wished all the students success over the next 18 months.

At the end of the opening ceremony, CEIBS Vice President and Co-Dean Zhang Weijiong; EHL Associate Dean and HEMBA Director Prof. Achim Schmitt; EHL Shanghai Alumni Association President Ms. Sylvia Munzhuber; and Lausanne Hospitality Consulting S.A. China Chief Director and EHL Beijing Alumni Association President Mr. Bao Chen led participants in raising their glasses and offering a special EHL toast in the form of “À Votre Santé! (To Your Health)!”

Following the opening ceremony, HEMBA 2019 Class 1 began an eight-day intensive opening residency module on CEIBS Shanghai Campus, with courses covering leadership, strategic management in the hospitality industry, organisational behaviour, and CSR.

CEIBS HEMBA 2019 students will be divided into a spring cohort (Class 1) and an autumn cohort (Class 2), the latter of which is expected to open in November 2019.

About CEIBS

China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), a joint-venture for management education, was co-founded by the Chinese government and European Union (EU) in 1994, with Shanghai Jiao Tong University and the EFMD serving as its executive partners. CEIBS has campuses in Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Accra in Ghana, and Zurich in Switzerland.

As China’s only business school to originate from government-level collaboration, CEIBS is committed to educating responsible leaders versed in “China Depth, Global Breadth” in line with its motto of “Conscientiousness, Innovation and Excellence”. Leaders from the Chinese central government and the EU have respectively lauded CEIBS as “a cradle of excellent executives” and “a role model of EU-China cooperation”.

About EHL

École hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) is an ambassador for traditional Swiss hospitality and has been a pioneer in hospitality education since 1893. It has created and inspired a unique professional community of over 25,000 hospitality managers, united by the values and the legacy of EHL. EHL is regularly recognized as the best hotel management school in the world.